S P u 



broken, in the middle or centre of it is feen a Pretty white 

 flow" covered with another flower, wh.ch ^s redd.lh or 

 brown. Thoi.eh this vitiated flower has feme confiltency, it 

 may neverthekfs be crumbled between the •nge;;^-^ M- A'- 

 men has fometimes found this powder almolt as black as that 

 of fmutty wheat. Thefe grains when P"' '" ° /''"^[^ 

 fwim at firlt, and afterwards fink to the b""om It 

 chewed, they leave a bitter taite on the tongue. The chaft 

 appears found, though what is outmoll is fomewhat browner 

 than when the ears are found. But all the grains of the 

 fame ear are not ever attacked with the fpur. The grains 

 which have this diftemper (lick leis to the ftalks than lound 

 grains do. And the above writer imputes the diitemper to 

 the orains not being impregnated ; and afferts, that he has 

 not L^er found a germ in grains which had the fpur. 



It may be noticed, that it has been fuppofed by fome that 

 fogs, dews, rain, and the moillure of the earth, may give 

 the diftemper to rye, but without any fufficient reafon. 

 M Tiilet is however (Irongly inclined to think that it is oc- 

 cafioned by an infeft, which turns the rye into a kind of 

 jfal/j and he fufpefts a fmall caterpillar as being the caufe 

 of this mifchief, but cannot fpeak affirmatively on this 

 point. It has been abfurdly fuppofed to affeft thofe who 

 confume the bread made from grain thus difeafed with a fort 

 of dry gangrene in the extreme parts of the body. The 

 nature of this difeafe in grain, hke thofe of many others, is 

 ftill far from being fully inveltigated, fo as to form any cor- 

 reft notion of the means of removing or preventing it. 



Spurs, in Old Fortifications, denote walls that crofs a 

 part of the rampart, and join to the town-wall. 



Spurs, in Ship-Building, large pieces of timber, the 

 lower ends of which are fixed ae;ainft the fide of the bildge- 

 ways, and the upper ends fayed and bolted to the (hip's fide, 

 to fupport the (hip in launching. They have been much dif- 

 continued of late years. 



Spvn-She/l, a fpeciesof the cochlea. 

 SPURGE, in Botany. See EUPHORBIA. 

 SpunGE-Lau«/, or Me%ereon, Launola, or Daphne. See 

 D.^PHNE, and Daphne Mezenum. 



Spurge, Oli-ue, the Engli(h name of a genus of plants, 

 called by fome botanifts <-ia»«/<rfl; which fee. 



Others have made the olive fpurge a fpeciea of euphorbia, 

 or fpurge. See Euphorbia. 



Spl'RGE, Sun, a name by which fome call feveral fpecies 

 of tithymalui ; which fee. 



SpuRGE-i?oo?, in the Materia Medica. See EsuLiE 

 Radix. 



SPURGEN, in Geography, a town of America, in 

 North Carolina ; 22 miles N.N.E. of Salifbury. 



SPURIOUS Diseases, in Medicine, are fiich as, in fome 

 fymptoms, cannot be brought under any diltintt head, and, 

 therefore, are called by the name of others with which they 

 moil agree. Whence, alfo, they are often denominated 

 ia/Iards, nothi. 



Such are a fpurious or baftard pleurify, a Ipurious peri- 

 pneumony, a baftard quinfey, and the like. See Pleuuisy, 

 Peripneumo.ny, &c. 



Spurious Flejb, is an appellation given by fome to the 

 fle(h of the lips gums, and that of the glands, &c. 

 Spurious Medals. See Medals. 

 Spurious Rils. See Ribs. 

 Spurious Suture. See Suture. 

 SPURKETS, in a Ship. See Spirketting. 

 SPURN Head, in Geography, a cape of England, at 

 the S.E. extremity of the county of York, at the mouth of 

 the Humber, on which is a light-houfe, N. lat. 53° 3^'' 

 E. long. 0° 18'. 



S P u 



SPURNESS, the fouth cape of Sunda, one of the Ork- 

 ney iflands. N. lat. 59"^ 7'- W. long. 2° 35'. 



SPURNWATER, in Ship- Building, a channel left 

 above the ends of a deck, to prevent the water from coming 

 any further. 



SPURRE, in Ornithology, a name given by many to the 

 bird more commonly called the fea-fwallow. 



SPURREY, in Botany. See SPERGULA. 



Spukrey, Corn, ill Agriculture, the common name of a 

 plant of the weed kind, which is common in many parts and 

 fltuations. It feldom rifes above fix inches in height, flowers 

 in the beginning of July, ripens its feed in Auguft, and is 

 an annual plant. When it is troublefome as a weed, the 

 beft method of exterminating it is by fummer fallows, and 

 cutting it down before it can fcatter its feeds, which are 



very fmall. r • j i_ i.- 



Two fpecies of tliis plant, however, are faid to be culti- 

 vated in Holland and Flanders, for the winter food for 

 cattle, when there is a fcarcity of grafs. It is laid to enrich 

 the milk of cows, fo as to make it afford excellent butter ; 

 and the mutton fed on it is preferable to that fed on turr.ips. 

 Hens eat this plant and its feeds greedily, and they are fup- 

 pofed to make them lay a great number of eggs 



It is a plant which is fown twice a year ; the hr(t time in 

 April and May, to be ready in June or July ; and the fecond 

 time after the rye-harveft, to ferve the cattle in November 

 and December. The ufual allowance of feed is about 

 twelve pounds to the acre. 



It is faid, that though not cultivated in the county ot 

 Berks, it grows there in an abundant manner, and that the 

 feeds of it might be eafily coUeded in any quantity. The 

 cultivation of it has been recommended, by way of trial, on 

 the poor foils about Frilfliam and Yattendon, in the above 

 diftrift, by the writer of the account of the agriculture of 

 the county, on the fuggeftion of an intelligent perlon It 

 is ftated alfo, that Roucel, in his " Flora du Nord de la 

 France," has confidered it as an excellent late fodder for 

 cows ; and that it is made ufe of in the above countries, as 

 well as in Germany, both in its green ftate, and when made 



into hay. ^ r 



It is likewife fuggefted, that as the knotted fort ot Ipurrey, 

 though perhaps not equally grateful to animals, naturally 

 over-runs the peat-pits in the Kennets, in the above county, 

 it might therefore be fown with certain eftea in fuch 

 fltuations. . 



Spurrey, Purple, an annual weed in dry iandy mea- 

 dows, and corn-fields of the fame dry quality. There are 

 other forts which are troublefome m wet hedges and wood- 

 lands. 



SPUR- WAY, in Rural Economy, a term applied to a 

 bridle, or horfe-way, or road through inclofed lands or 

 fields, and free to any one to ride in by right of cuftom or 

 ufage. 



SPUR-WING, in Geography, a river of America, m 

 the ftate of Maine, which runs through Scarborough, W. 

 of Cape Elizabeth, and is navigable a few miles for veilels ot 

 100 ton?. 



SPUTT, a river of England, in the county of Wefl- 

 moreland, which runs into the Ken. 



SPUTUM, iu Medicine, &c. the fpittle or excrement 

 voided at the mouth. See Saliva. 



An examen of the fputum is of great confequence in 

 phthifical cafes: and Bennet, in his " Theatrum Tab_ido- 

 rum," applies himfelf in a particular manner to it. The 

 fputum fanguinis is a very dangerous fymptom in that 

 difeafe. g^y, 



